Ask anyone who has camped with an air mattress, and they likely will have nothing good to say about the experience. More often than not, the mattress has a leak that leaves the occupants sleeping on the ground. Canadian entrepreneur Sawyer Pahl wants to do away with these leaky air mattresses, and is working on a much more comfortable alternative for campers. His solution to help you sleep while under the stars? The CompREST, a vacuum-sealed camping mattress that combines the portability of an air mattress with the durability of foam.
CompREST is a foam camping bed that leverages the comfort and insulating benefits of foam while eliminating the major drawback to the material — its inherent bulkiness. To help make foam more portable, Pahl developed a vacuum-packing system that reduces the size of the bed by 20 percent . Before you head off for your next camping trip, just fold the bed, place it in its vacuum-sealable bag, and attach the vacuum. In just a few minutes, you’ll have a compressed bed that can be thrown into the back of your truck. Once you have arrived at the campground or other destination, just open the vacuum-sealed mattress bag and the bed will automatically begin to re-inflate until it reaches its original dimensions (25″ x 74″ x 2″). Not only do you have a comfortable mattress, the CompREST vacuum also doubles as a portable charging station for your devices.
Because it is made of foam, the CompREST won’t leak or puncture — another huge benefit when you are camping in the great outdoors. Nothing spoils a weekend getaway like sleeping on a bunch of roots because you busted your air mattress. Though it is comfortable, CompREST is not for everyone. The foam is not compressible enough to fit into a backpack for backwoods backpacking. It primarily is designed for car camping, music festivals, and other outdoor experiences where you are close to your vehicle.
CompREST is available as part of a Kickstarter campaign. The $110 starter pack includes a single-person mattress and a vacuum sealer system. A couples package with two mattresses and a family pack with four mattresses are available for $190 and $250, respectively. If you are bringing a scout troop, there’s even a “Wolf Pack” option that provides 10 CompREST beds for $530. Pahl expects to deliver the CompREST beds starting in June 2017, just in time for the summer camping season.